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9th August - 22nd August
The road scenes in Malawi turned out to be a mirror image
to those in Eastern Zambia. The main form of transport is
the bicycle which is usually pilled ludicrously high with
various goods (firewood, charcoal, goats, chickens, mothers
and babies, etc, etc, etc). It is a real moving parade really
but makes driving a reasonably terrifying experience, especially
with a Land Rover steering. Steering may be the wrong word
- "guidance system" is probably more appropriate.
We spent our first couple of days in Malawi in the capital
city - Lilongwe - sorting out various things. We then headed
to Lake Malawi. We were originally hoping to do a loop to
the North of the country and back down, but decided against
doing the whole double back. Lake Malawi is just stunning
- extremely relaxing.
Our initial introduction to Cape Maclear was a bit of a rude
shock. After a full days driving we were confronted with a
horde of people all wanting to take us out canoeing, sell
us fish, etc, etc. The expectations of the local people of
the tourists seemed way too high. After a few days there we
realised that there were only a handful of these very pushy
and insistent people. The rest of the local villages dealt
with the constant invasion of tourists in their village with
disinterest. Well, besides the kids that is who's English
vocabulary extends to "Give me sweets" and "Give
me money". Fortunately there was an invisible line at
the entrance to the campsite we were staying in, which neither
the kids nor the touts crossed. Also at the campsite we bumped
into Craig and Alex who we had met previously in the Zambezi
Valley in Zambia. They are on a similar trip to us in a similar
vehicle (but a Toyota). It was good to swap stories, plans,
etc.
The first two days we spent relaxing and absorbing the wonderful
environment. On the third day we hired canoes and managed
to paddle to three of the islands within site of the lake
shore. We managed to buy a few small fish off one of the local
fishermen in his dugout canoe and managed to entice a number
of Fish Eagles to feed only metres from our canoes. Quite
an experience watching these majestic birds swooping down
over the water only arms lengths away.
From Cape Maclear we headed South to the Zomba Plateau. The
Plateau is an imposing feature extending out of the hilly
plain and is covered in pine plantations. Old Nyathi had to
go into Low Range to get up to the top. We spent two very
relaxing days on the Plateau and did a couple of good walks.
It was very similar to the countryside around George and the
Garden Route in South Africa. Forestry is the main industry
on the Plateau, but with a bit of a twist. It is all extremely
manual. The trees are cut and sawn into planks using hand
saws. The logs are maneuvered onto scaffolds and two people
man the saw, one on top and one below the log. The planks
are then carried to the road on the people heads.
It was then onto Blantyre - the second largest city - to
organise our Mozambique visa's, spare rear spring bundles
for Nyathi and various other bits and pieces. We had very
unlucky day on our first day in the city. It was Friday and
the money changer was closed and then we were 20 minutes too
late for the Mozambique Consulate. On Friday nights our campsite
seems to transform into a nightclub complete with blaring
rave music, crowds of locals and the whole works. Interesting.
On Monday we dutifully got our passports into the consulate
and were told that we had a four day wait. Having had enough
of the city and the campsite we headed off to the Mulanje
Plateau for a few days.
The Plateau was a massive mountain that jutted out of the
relatively flat surroundings, with it's flanks covered in
tea plantations and its top once again covered in pine forests.
The locals carry pine logs down from the top of the mountain
on their heads - a 2-3 hour walk. There is no road to the
top of the mountain, so everything goes up using people. After
two days of strenuous walking in the Mountains we returned
to Blantyre, collected our visa's and headed to Mozambique.
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